Vocabulary Games

Your online Tool Box

These ESL games and activities are for practicing and teaching vocabulary. After you have presented the vocabulary you can use one of these games or activities to practice it.



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Ball Toss Questioning: Reviewing Vocabulary Words Through a Game
Flash Cards ppt

• Take some A4 paper and cut it into 4 pieces
• Write the letters of the alphabet down, one on each piece
• You'll need enough total letters to spell any words (vocabulary from your lesson) that you have in mind. You will need more than one for the more common letters
• Pick a word and give some, but not all of the letters to a group of students
• Those students take their letters up to the front of the classroom
• Arrange the students in an order as if to spell the word
• At the same time leave gaps for the missing letters
• Have the other students guess what the word is
• After they guess correctly choose a new set of students and a new word
• Continue

• Pick a word or phrase, for example, "play basketball"
• Pretend to play basketball without speaking
• Have students guess what it is
• Have the guesser come forward to mime a word or a phrase

• Place flashcards from your lesson in a bag
• Play music and have the kids pass the bag along down the line or around the circle
• Stop the music
• Have the student who is holding the bag pull out a card and say what it is
• Then have all the students repeat together
• Continue

• Place two chairs in the front of and facing the class
• Two students sit down
• Write a word on the board so that they cannot see it
• Have the other students give them clues without saying the word until one gets it
• Then change seats and have a new set of students come forward

• Divide your class into two teams and into two lines standing facing the board
• Say or point to a word on the board and say "Go"
• Each student says the word while at the same time passing it down the line
• The last students run up to the board to write and say it
• Give a point to the first one to say it correctly
• They then go to the front of the line
• Continue

This game is similar to "Pictionary". It involves drawing and guessing. It can be fun and it can get the whole classroom involved. You can use vocabulary from your lesson(s). For this ESL activity:

• Pick a word (perhaps recent vocabulary from your lesson) and take a marker and begin to draw a picture on the board without telling your students what it is
• Have your students guess what it is
• Give the marker to the student who guesses correctly and have them draw next

• Get some "Post-It's"
• Write vocabulary words (two of each) from your lessons on them or have your students write them
• Place one set on the back left side and one on the back right side of the room
• Draw a picture of or simply write a matching word on the board
• Divide your class into two teams
• Have one student from each team come to the back of the room
• Say "Go"
• Students race to match the Post It's to the images or words on the board
• Give a point to the first team to do so correctly

• Divide your class into two or more teams depending on the size of the class
• Say a vocabulary word from your lesson
• One student from each team races up to the board to write it
• After they write it they say it
• The first student to say it and write it correctly gets a point for their team
• The other students seated can help them spell it correctly
• Make sure that they correct any mistakes before sitting down

You could also have them draw a picture of the word as well as write it.

• You'll need some A4 paper cut into about 4 pieces
• Take vocabulary words from your lesson and cut them into syllables. For example, "in" goes on one piece of paper and "sect" goes on another
• Have one student for each syllable come to the front of the class and give each their syllable
• Standing side by side have the students pronounce their syllables one at a time
• Then have your students scrunch down
• Say "Go" and they quickly stand up and say their syllable
• Correct any mistakes and have the whole class repeat together
• Change students and vocabulary words

This game will work well with large categories, such as animals, school objects, jobs, countries, etc. To play this ESL game:

• Choose a category, for example, "animals", and write as many animals on the board you and your class can think of
• One student comes forward and sits in a seat facing the rest of the class
• They have in their mind one thing that's listed on the board
• The rest of the class has to figure out what she is thinking of
• They can only ask yes or no questions
• For example, "Is it black?", "Does it live in Africa?", "Does it eat meat?", etc.
• Once they guess correctly you can have the student who guessed come to sit in the front

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